tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post7261148757273961564..comments2023-11-10T04:17:00.492-05:00Comments on View From The Porch: Thank heavens Archdukes are thin on the ground...Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-25742927796517836612014-03-01T10:21:36.074-05:002014-03-01T10:21:36.074-05:00"One could argue that Europe over-reacted to ..."One could argue that Europe over-reacted to the Archduke's assassination."<br /><br />To summarize Barbara Tuchman's book <i>The Guns of August</i> in one sentence, the assassination was an excuse, not a reason. <br /><br />As long as Serbia existed as an independent nation that once was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would be an example for all the other tribes subject to Austria, so Austria _needed_ to conquer Serbia. Russia wanted to invade Austria and move the border west. Germany wanted to invade Russia. Turkey wanted to recover some former territory from Russia, while it's armies were tied up elsewhere. France wanted revenge for 1870, and also to get Alsace and Lorraine back. Therefore, the Prussian high command figured that they had to go through Belgium to knock France out of the war before Russia got moving. Great Britain was pledged to defend Belgium's neutrality - and more importantly, for security they needed to keep the opposite shore of the English Channel divided up among various friendly or militarily insignificant nations. <br /><br />So a generation of Brits died in Flanders rather than risk the theoretical possibility of someday having to fight a German invasion on their own soil. And that was a better reason than most of the other nations had for that war. <br /><br />But Tuchman also shows how the logistics of mass war and the unwillingness of governments to admit mistakes turned bluffing into mobilization, mobilization into border clashes, border clashes into invasions, and invasions into a bloody 4-year stalemate and a war of attrition far more costly than whatever they'd been ready to fight over. Honorable men would have ended the war in 1915 with a negotiated return to the original boundaries, and then hung themselves before their own people got around to it, but politicians just kept repeating their mistakes and hoping it would work out in the end.markmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-6535535109841472802014-03-01T00:48:32.542-05:002014-03-01T00:48:32.542-05:00Brilliant AND hillarious. In a dark sort of way. A...Brilliant AND hillarious. In a dark sort of way. Alath, you win my internets today, at least. Well done. Gooberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07358115439453465833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-55175599769865369372014-02-28T22:17:42.173-05:002014-02-28T22:17:42.173-05:00Page 3 is particularly damning.
Page 3 is particularly damning.<br />Kristophrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08370888276707569365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-42177343091344539722014-02-28T22:03:42.078-05:002014-02-28T22:03:42.078-05:00<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/10...<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/108579391966020845121/albums/5985648893191438145>Here ya go.</a><br /><br />You might want to buy this one. Be aware that the first 10% of the book consists of two long-ass rebuttals by the Democrat publisher and editor.Kristophrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08370888276707569365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-31615845912265977572014-02-28T21:44:55.931-05:002014-02-28T21:44:55.931-05:00As if the Russians didn't have more than their...As if the Russians didn't have more than their fair share of femme hawtness in the winter Olympics, they needed some hetero Ukraine hotties to increase their medal count.<br /><br />(how's that for digging deep into the chauvinist pig trough?)Buzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-91863827487417495252014-02-28T21:30:35.300-05:002014-02-28T21:30:35.300-05:00Ossum. Thank you!Ossum. Thank you!Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-75805275827075628722014-02-28T21:18:52.677-05:002014-02-28T21:18:52.677-05:00I'll see if I can screenshot the pages in ques...I'll see if I can screenshot the pages in question.<br /><br />Kindle makes it deliberately difficult to copy-paste from ebooks.Kristophrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08370888276707569365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-7818524387256365612014-02-28T20:32:22.387-05:002014-02-28T20:32:22.387-05:00Kristophr,
Thanks! Just copypasta a paragraph int...Kristophr,<br /><br />Thanks! Just copypasta a paragraph into an email or gimme some names I can plug into Google; you know I'd love reading more on that stuff.<br /><br />I grew up hatin' on FDR at grandma's knee. ;)Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-1923631993047096552014-02-28T20:26:43.368-05:002014-02-28T20:26:43.368-05:00Tam:
http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Betrayed-Herbe...Tam:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Betrayed-Herbert-Hoovers-Aftermath-ebook/dp/B0076QSNW8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0/185-7541717-0761636<br /><br />Kinda spendy for a kindle addition.<br /><br />Get a kindle email to me and I'll loan you my copy.<br /><br />Kristophrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08370888276707569365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-64259098796603967342014-02-28T20:01:15.105-05:002014-02-28T20:01:15.105-05:00Obama tried to get the Olympic games to Chicago bu...Obama tried to get the Olympic games to Chicago but failed, what a payoff that would have been...at least the Euro-Kelptocrats knew where "Chicago" (AlCaponeingrad) was - or how/where the money was supposed to flow.<br />Is it only because the Olympics (or Twitter?) that Americans know where the Ukraine is? Perhaps now War is not the only way Americans learn geography. NotClauswitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14358707844087117280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-49268866979419063462014-02-28T19:40:40.038-05:002014-02-28T19:40:40.038-05:00Kristophr,
[citation needed], dude.
Chris Gerri...Kristophr,<br /><br />[<i>citation needed</i>], dude.<br /><br /><br />Chris Gerrib,<br /><br />In case you were wondering, I don't think there's anything in Ukraine worth the bones of a single Pennsylvania National Guardsman.<br /><br /><br />Fiftycal,<br /><br />"<i>I believe the half/white Obama "administration"...</i>"<br /><br />You stay classy, there.Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-87374581367758839612014-02-28T18:55:59.724-05:002014-02-28T18:55:59.724-05:00I believe the half/white Obama "administratio...I believe the half/white Obama "administration" is trying to figure out if their "strongly worded letter" should be faxed, emailed or, horror of horrors, sent with a $.40 "forever" stamp. And how to portray Putin as "racist, sexist, homophobic and bad" since he is the archtype of "progressive".Fiftycalnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-63381228451149294922014-02-28T18:40:34.095-05:002014-02-28T18:40:34.095-05:00I wonder if the "Let's Move" people ...<i>I wonder if the "Let's Move" people considered the image of a white man chasing a black man around the white house.</i><br /><br /><br />@tailwind, that put a mighty large smile on my face in the midst of a thoroughly depressing discussion. Well done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-45728563961105036142014-02-28T18:35:01.233-05:002014-02-28T18:35:01.233-05:00Robin said: But there are a lot of various kinds o...Robin said: <i>But there are a lot of various kinds of steps that could be done by a competent US administration.</i><br /><br />Such as? Seriously - Putin's already occupied the airport in Crimea. Chris Gerribhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09484367221527860100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-2000268404818843422014-02-28T18:33:20.332-05:002014-02-28T18:33:20.332-05:00Middle Man said: Populations wouldn't look tha...Middle Man said: <i>Populations wouldn't look that way had Lenin not murdered all the White Russians holed up in the Crimea, nor Stalin send the locals off to the gulag in Kazazkstan. Russians of one stripe or another have working hard to colonize the strategic peninsula for more than two centuries.</i><br /><br />True enough, but ...<br /><br />Does that change anything <i>now</i>?<br /><br />I'd be careful with a "yes", because that opens a lot of cans of worms all over the world, and leads to an odd sort of "democracy" where only the Approved Ethnic Group gets a say in the actions of the nation-state they're stuck inside of.Sigivaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16152366541957466049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-55552862592492686552014-02-28T17:15:48.574-05:002014-02-28T17:15:48.574-05:00Not saying it's right, but if your homeland ha...Not saying it's right, but if your homeland happens to be located in any of the borderlands that periodically are added to or subtracted from the Russian Empire, you should really try to enjoy whatever national independence you have because it is not likely to be a permanent condition.<br /><br />The Finns have done the best, mostly be excelling at their version of Biathlon which is similar to the Olympic version except they use Russian conscripts as targets.<br /><br />Alath<br />Carmel INAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-26099545722795535242014-02-28T16:42:02.289-05:002014-02-28T16:42:02.289-05:00Gregg:
Herbert Hoover, in his memoirs, claimed th...Gregg:<br /><br />Herbert Hoover, in his memoirs, claimed that Chamberlain and the French believed FDR when he claimed he could get the US into the war in the event of an invasion or Poland.<br /><br />So they allied with Poland.<br /><br /><br />FDR turned out to not have enough pull to get us into WWII in 1938.<br /><br />Oops.<br /><br />( Hoover's contacts in France told him that the original game plan was to let Hitler and Stalin murder each other. )<br />Kristophrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08370888276707569365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-41655159418947731482014-02-28T16:27:58.852-05:002014-02-28T16:27:58.852-05:00Mostly because for the previous 500 years the Fren...Mostly because for the previous 500 years the French plans all started with invade the Germanies And everytime they turned to the east the Germans had a french inserting a weapon between their shoulder blades.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-19203426350644378772014-02-28T16:16:08.356-05:002014-02-28T16:16:08.356-05:00With a President worse than Carter who admires FDR...With a President worse than Carter who admires FDR and is in the driver's seat while the army becomes smaller than it was in 1940, I don't think there are any options here that don't involve a lot of bloodshed. The last 68 years have been the most peaceful generation Europe has known in all of recorded history, and I think that's about to change. <br />After the Danzig Crisis, or heck, after the post Munich Accords devouring of Czechloslovakia, what sort of diplomacy could FDR have trotted out that would have avoided war? <br /><br />Irredentism is an ugly thing.Windy Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01951254236693386401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-59266675535990578682014-02-28T15:47:10.657-05:002014-02-28T15:47:10.657-05:00" Anonymous Anonymous said...
Eh. It'..." Anonymous Anonymous said...<br /><br /> Eh. It's worth looking at the electoral distribution from the last election:<br /> Ukraine_ElectionsMap_Nov2004.png<br /><br /> Those are some pretty high pro-Russian percentages in the Crimea. I can't get too excited unless Russia starts pushing north and east..."<br /><br />Populations wouldn't look that way had Lenin not murdered all the White Russians holed up in the Crimea, nor Stalin send the locals off to the gulag in Kazazkstan. Russians of one stripe or another have working hard to colonize the strategic peninsula for more than two centuries.Middle Mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-54369876388697721662014-02-28T15:40:02.778-05:002014-02-28T15:40:02.778-05:00If they need to run around and be active in the Wh...If they need to run around and be active in the White House, can't they at least use nunchucks?<br /><br />(Nannywall at work blocks streaming, else I'd dig up and link Black Dynamite vs. Tricky Dick)Ygolonacnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-53590207388260193562014-02-28T15:04:51.207-05:002014-02-28T15:04:51.207-05:00Guess which one is Putin and which is Barry.
http...Guess which one is Putin and which is Barry.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVNHcob3oJgShermhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07098953206824247173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-30571303250853723252014-02-28T14:47:23.099-05:002014-02-28T14:47:23.099-05:00Of course, we should not and never would send US t...Of course, we should not and never would send US troops into Ukraine to fight on behalf of the western-oriented mafia against the eastern-oriented mafia.<br /><br />But there are a lot of various kinds of steps that could be done by a competent US administration.<br /><br />Instead we have Professor Ditherton Wiggleroom.<br /><br />As for Venezuela, that's even more infuriating as when Maduro claims that the US is encouraging/helping the protestors and the world laughs at Maduro for how ridiculous his accusation is ...Cincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10424218376882403880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-80610289302982928052014-02-28T14:18:06.441-05:002014-02-28T14:18:06.441-05:00Can't imagine the Turks are too pleased. How s...Can't imagine the Turks are too pleased. How suitable are the Dardanelles and Bosphorus as logistics routes? IIRC sea transport is preferred to land anyway. <br /><br />Not that I expect much fun this administration either. Ian Argenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03704336044732061128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-50607363702959278592014-02-28T14:09:11.810-05:002014-02-28T14:09:11.810-05:00So:
1. Ukranians shut off gas pipelines, or threat...So:<br />1. Ukranians shut off gas pipelines, or threaten to.<br />2. Russia assures EU of continued gas supply as soon as pipelines are patrolled by Russian Tanks. Sends in tanks to do that.<br />3. E.U. applauds Russian efforts to prevent freezing in winter.<br /><br />Like Tam says, you gotta know how to sell it.Billllhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13913354887560267235noreply@blogger.com